26/11/2025
STAR๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ | ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ฏ๐ผ๐ ๐๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ
โAfter every storm, there is a rainbow. No matter how long it takes to show upโ -Grace V.
During hard times, it feels as if you will never see a blue sky again, let alone a rainbow. Glancing above that vastness that stretched across the whole country, its color was not blue like the way it used to be. It was dull and gray like iron, covered in heavy clouds ready to bring disaster unlike ever before. And yet, even from that iron sky, what seemed impossible during the rampage of consecutive typhoonsโTino, Uwan, and Verbenaโcolors began to unravel throughout it all.
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ
Early in the morning, it was wailingโthe wind that gushed from all directionsโred and orange rainfall, carrying with it rooftops and branches. By night, both Tino and every Filipino were restless. The electrical poles that stood tall to power houses fell one by one. Waters for drinking, washing, and bathing became scarce overnight. Families that were at risk in the safety of their homes were urged to evacuate immediately. But for some to even get there, the muddy and rapid water would first reach above their waist, to others, reaching even as they climbed to the topmost of their homes, holding nothing but their lives and beloveds as they cried for help. The next colors of the rainbow began revealing themselves, not in the sky, but in the restlessness of the people.
๐ฌ๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป
Just a day before, no one knew what havoc was about to dawn on their homes. Just mere days before, those same livesโparents, children, and animalsโwere still with us. They too were visiting their deceased loved ones during All Soulsโ Day, lighting up a yellow candle, placing flowers beside the graves, and eating foods that remind them of their loved ones. The crops in the fields and the trees that lined the mountains were still lush and green that day. Their leaves still danced as they brought shade above heads and support to the land they anchoring their roots. What was once full of life, now left breathless in tragedy.
๐๐น๐๐ฒ
Days have since then passed, and the skies have cleared. The blue arrived; not of the blue sky, but the blue of grief. In the aftermath, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported that roughly 269 were dead and 523 were injured during Typhoon Tino, while 33 were dead and 52 were injured during Typhoon Uwan, and an estimated total of 7.5 million people were affected nationwide, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). There were reports of numbers, numbers that become unbearable when you think of one name, one room full of coffins. A childโs shoe in a clump of mud or a student's hindered dreams. A petโs old toys, or the ruined furniture of a house. All reported numbers again and again that the Philippines surpassed through resilience. Yet โresilienceโ felt like a dulling word pressed over a new, raw grief. But then, when all seemed lost, the last color of the rainbow could be seen.
๐ฉ๐ถ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ๐
The violet of the rainbow arrived the way help often doesโat the end, but still in a very long stretch. Volunteers and rescuers rowed out on improvised boats as others treated injuries immediately. Packs of relief goods were handed out just to provide a meal to another. Strangers donated their clothes and prayers. In ruined barangays, children who had lost so much still found someone to hold their hand. In evacuation centers, neighbors who have little left still gained the support they needed for another day. And thus, a rainbow finally formed over the Philippines.
A rainbow that appears after a storm does not guarantee that every drop of its peril is over. If you ever pass by your fellow student or neighbor, they would have probably seen a different color, experienced a different angle during the calamity. And yet, the aftermath of these storms does not mean we cannot strive to chase hope, to find a rainbow in another way, through one another. Ultimately, the rainbow that stretched all across the Philippines wasnโt found in its recovering sky; it was found in the hearts of every Filipino, who had shared not only hardships, but the motivation and harmony during dark storms.
